California adds 12 cent gas tax and 20 cent diesel tax

westernrvparkowner wrote:

mileshuff wrote:

NYCgrrl wrote:
Mass transit IS essential to any community that is not simply thinking of the able bodied.

A mass transit system that is mainly used by the disabled isn't very practical and efficient.

Mass transit works great in cities where large population centers move daily from a housing districts to a work districts. Cities like San Francisco is a good example moving people from the east and south bays to SF and back every day. Mass transit fails in the majority of our nations cities where jobs and housing are scattered citywide without concentrations of either.

You are 100 percent correct. What works in NYC or Boston has no chance of succeeding in Los Angeles, Dallas or Hungry Horse Montana. That is why the Federal and State Government fails when it comes to dealing with local issues. There is no "one size fits all" answer to transportation, education, welfare, housing etc. But government believes they can conjure up a sweeping proposal and solve all the ills. It cannot happen.
Then there is the question of whether or not more money will actually make better roads, or will they just spend the extra money on fancier looking bridges, higher pay for highway workers, public transportation where it is not wanted or needed and showcase projects that never pan out (anyone want a Monorail? Bueller? Anyone?).

I agree that every public transport solution should vary by a locale's needs and geography. See just that up the road from me on the CT shore and Westchester county, both places where one family w/ multiple car ownership is the norm. I suspect that times of higher fuel costs boosted ridership but even now with lower gas prices ridership continues to grow. Their system uses buses of varying sizes and commuter trains w/ tracks maintained by Amtrak. I believe they are funded by 3 different levels of govt.